1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a small-sized vehicle such as a passenger golf car, for example.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, the vehicle body front portion of a golf car includes a front suspension system supporting left and right front wheels on a vehicle body frame in a vertically swingable manner, a steering system for steering the left and right front wheels to the left and right, a seat disposed on a middle portion of the vehicle body frame, and a floor panel disposed in front of and lower than the seat.
The floor panel has a floor portion on which the feet of an occupant are placed and a front portion extending upwardly from a front edge of the floor portion. The floor portion and front portion protect the area around the legs of the occupant from stones and splashing mud kicked up from the front wheels, and also prevents the occupant's feet from coming into contact with the suspension system and the steering system when they extend forward.
Meanwhile, the floor portion and the front portion are generally formed as individual parts. This causes problems such as increasing the number of assembly steps for assembling the floor portion and the front portion to the vehicle body frame and increasing costs due to a need to reinforce the sealing property of a connecting portion between the floor portion and the front portion.
Here, it is conceivable that the number of assembly steps is decreased and the sealing property of the connecting portion is enhanced by making the floor portion and the front portion from steel plates, respectively, and integrating them by welding. However, in this case, the cost increases due to the need for the welding step. Incidentally, when the floor portion and the front portion are integrally press-formed, a large mold is required, which also increases the cost.